Langer outduels wind
Nets five birdies in row after delay
Bernhard Langer sat on a bench and ate a sandwich, chatted with his playing partners and signed autographs for fans as he waited out a 41-minute wind delay on the 14th tee at Trump National in Sterling, Va. When play resumed, he swung two clubs to loosen up and got back to business.
Langer grinded out three pars in the teeth of the wind and, when conditions began to improve, he took advantage, making five consecutive birdies to regain the lead Friday at the Senior PGA Championship.
Langer was 11 under through 13 holes when play was halted because of darkness, one shot ahead of Vijay Singh, who shot 68 amid wind measured at more than 30 mph.
Singh was at 10-under 134 through two rounds. Billy Andrade also shot 68 and was one shot behind Singh. Their scores were eight shots better than the field average.
The wind was so strong that golf balls moved on exposed greens, sand blew out of bunkers and whitecaps formed on the muddy Potomac River.
Playing in his first Senior PGA, Singh, 54, made par putts from outside 10 feet on 15 and 16 and two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th. Through two rounds, the long-hitting Fijian is 7 under on the par 5s, his only par coming when he threeputted the third hole.
“I’m driving the ball really well, which makes a big difference,” Singh said. “They’re all reachable. So even for mediumlength hitters, if you hit the fairways you can get in there with a 3-wood or 5wood.”
President Donald Trump’s course about 25 miles outside Washington is exposed to the wind in part because Trump decided to cut down more than 450 trees to create scenic riverfront holes. The conditions were reminiscent of another Trump course, Turnberry in Scotland, which has played host to multiple British Opens.
Other tournaments
Colonial: Danny Lee birdied the final hole for a 6-under 64 and a share of the second-round lead with Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson and Scott Piercy in Fort Worth, Texas. Kisner also had a birdie on his final hole, the ninth, for consecutive 67s. Simpson and Piercy each shot 66 to join the group at 6under 134.
BMW PGA Championship: Belgian Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters (69), Italy’s Francesco Molinari (70), and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson (70) shared the halfway lead in Virginia Water, England. The trio sits on 7-under overall, one shot ahead of German golfer Max Kieffer.
LPGA Volvik Championship: South Korean Sung Hyun Park shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead after the second round in Ann Arbor, Mich. Park enters the weekend at 12 under, with Minjee Lee (66) and Suzann Pettersen (67) tied for second. Earlier in the day in LPGA news, Ai Miyazato, 31, of Japan, said she is retiring at the end of the season, capping an exceptional career on the circuit that included nine victories and a No. 1 ranking.